You don’t want to miss our first featured speaker of the year – Sandra Johnson! She is a talented textile artist known for her use of repurposing denim, hand stitching, big stitch esthetics, and making quilt wearables. Sandra is presenting her lecture “Modern Quilts”. She will explore how modern quilt design, like modern art, employs design elements such as minimalism, expansive negative space, and alternate grid work. In the meantime, check out her website for inspiration prior to our meeting on February 6th. You can also find her on Facebook and Instagram as Sandra Johnson Designs.
Guests are welcome!!! Guest fee of $5.00 for non-members can be paid via PayPal to iemodernquiltguild@gmail.com no later than Friday, February 5th. The Zoom link will be sent prior to the meeting.
Update: If you are unfamiliar with making a payment via PayPal, here’s a helpful link.
We made it through 2020! Welcome Back! For our first meeting of the year, we continued with Lynn Hanna’s ‘What is a Modern Quilt?’ series. Lynn showed examples of quilts that used alternate gridwork. This transitioned perfectly into viewing an episode of Fresh Quilting “Alternate Grids” presented by Jacquie Gering. After the video, members arranged cut up blocks to arrange in various alternate grid formations. Laura led a discussion and members shared their various arrangement of the blocks as shown below.
President’s Message from Barbara Mathews
Happy New Year!! I don’t know about all of you, but this often-used salutation means more to me this year than usual! 2021 – WOW! I remember when I was a kid (back in the dark ages) I didn’t think I’d live to see the turn of the century! When I think back to all the inventions, achievements and improvements to our lives – even in the last 20 years – I can’t help but notice how far we’ve come in the art of quilting! Whether you’re a traditional, modern, art, collage or whatever style of quilter, there’s a place for you in this community – AND lots to explore and learn!
We’ve certainly had to make some adjustments this year – the “virtual” connection has taken over our lives! And, even though it’s a pain in the neck sometimes, it has kept us connected to each other. I’m not a “techie” by any stretch, so I’m forever grateful to the ladies on the Board and Committee Chairs who are, and can help us navigate this complicated (to me!) territory!
I hope you’re all having as much fun as I am exploring new techniques and finishing those dusty UFO’s during this continued lock-down. With YouTube tutorials, on-line classes, Facebook groups and sew-alongs, and other venues that have gone virtual, there are lots of opportunities to learn something new, fine-tune your skills or get encouragement and inspiration from like-minded quilters!
I pray you and your families are all staying healthy and that you’re doing one of the things we all love – QUILTING!
Renew your Membership for the Upcoming Year
We want to remind you to fill out the membership form, send in your check or use PayPal, but it’s time now to renew your Membership. It’s all up there on the tab that says “How to Join our Guild”. We have great programs and top of the line speakers planned for this year, so don’t miss out on being a member for 2021!
Announcements &Reminders
MEMBERS CORNER: Please remember to utilize the tab “Members Corner” for the Guild calendar of Upcoming Events, a downloadable Bylaws Document, and a downloadable Roster (all for personal use only). In addition, you can find the Zoom codes for the General Meetings and Drop-In Sews. It is a password-protected page, and if you’ve misplaced the password, email us for it at iemodernquiltguild@gmail.com.
UPCOMING MEETING: Our February meeting will feature Sandra Johnson who will be presenting her lecture “Modern Quilts”. More details to follow shortly. In the meantime you can browse her website prior to the meeting. Please note there will be no Show and Share at this meeting in order to devote as much time as possible to our guest speaker.
UPCOMING QUILT CHALLENGE: Our March meeting will feature our Mini Quilt Challenge, Sounds and Voices. The only guideline we have is that the longest side should measure no more than 24 inches. Think about highlighting a sound, a voice, a political statement, or COVID related quilt: What have you heard in the 10 months of isolation? Is it a life-long issue that repeats? Is it a new idea? Is it a singular noise or group of audible expressions? Is it musical or shrill? How will you display sounds or voices in a visual quilt? You can be abstract or literal. Here is an article from the New York Times that ties quite nicely into our March 2021 challenge.
We can’t wait to see your entries. Email a photo of your quilt along with the quilt title, your name, size, and inspirational statement to us at iemodernquiltguild@gmail.com with the subject line “Sounds and Voices Challenge”. Please send no later than Wednesday, March 3rd to allow time for prepping prior to the meeting.
INTERNATIONAL QUILT MUSEUM: We are excited to provide you with an additional resource – the International Quilt Museum (IQM)! The IQM is located on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s East Campus. The museum has the world’s largest publicly held quilt collection, dating from the early 1700s to present and representing more than 60 countries. Diversity and inclusion are central to the University’s and the IQM’s mission and pursuit of excellence.
They have a portal dedicated to guild members where you will find information about the museum as well as resources available available to guild members, including virtual programs from their experts, downloads, Q&As, and more. You can visit the museum here to see what exhibits they are currently showing as well as upcoming events. Please use the log-in information from the email sent to members on January 1, 2021.
December is the month we say good-bye to the Guild Board for 2020 and welcome in the new Board for 2021. Changes include a new president, new VP Communications, new Membership. We are grateful to those who have served us.
Our outgoing President, Gayle Bennett, has served for two years and will still continue as a Guild Committee Chairperson. She writes:
Gayle, standing in front of the IEMQG atrium exhibit at Road to California 2020
Each December as the year comes to an end I’ve always felt that, much like our birthdays, I can look ahead and give myself an opportunity for a fresh start. On occasion I’ll set just one or two New Year’s resolutions, and many years I’ve established my “word of the year” to represent what I want to achieve or change in the coming months. It’s obvious to all of us that the year we are wrapping up didn’t turn out like anything we could have imagined. As a guild we gave up our in-person meetings, but in their place we’ve become adept at joining in for Zoom meetings. I’ve come to look forward to and benefit from them too. Before I was given the honor of leading the guild as your president I had a pretty specific idea of what my time in that position would look like. As part of our group since the days of the “Friends Of The Modern Quilt Guild,” the informal organization where we got our start, the IEMQG means a great deal to me personally. You are the first ongoing group activity that I’ve ever had the pleasure to be involved in. The friends and relationships that have come from my involvement in our guild mean more to me than I can say. While I looked forward to serving as your guild president at some point I was adamant that this was not a task to take on while I was still working full time. But when I was asked to take on the president’s job, I did. It is with more thanks than I can ever express to my board members, chairpersons, volunteers, and our guild members themselves, that I finish up my two years. Any time I needed support, or a task picked up, there was someone to step up and bail me out. In particular these last several months during Covid-19 when my full-time job became more demanding, our guild continued to flourish thanks to our board who have taken care of so much and put in much time and effort during these trying times. Our little guild is coming up on five years old and during this time we’ve laid a strong foundation for moving forward. Special thanks to Laura and Elizabeth, in particular, for their above and beyond the call of duty efforts that kept us going. Barbara Mathews will now step in as president of our guild in 2021 and I look forward to handing over the reins to her and her board. Barbara has a solid hard-working group to support her in her job. If you ever want to be part of the board or a committee I strongly encourage you to do so. There are plenty of ways to help and all jobs both large and small make a difference. In closing, I think that my word for 2021 will be Hope. Webster’s Dictionary defines hope as “To cherish a desire with anticipation; to want something to happen or to be true…To desire with expectation of obtainment or fulfillment.” But these definitions seem passive, so I’ll share a quote from Barack Obama that brings the idea of action to the word hope: “The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope and you will fill yourself with hope.” As the holiday season launches please accept my sincere wishes for a Happy Hannakuah, Merry Christmas and for us to focus on a Happy New Year together. Let’s take our hope for a better year and put it into action. Thank you all!
We’d like to introduce our new President, Barbara Mathews, who comes with many years of experience in running Girl Scouts, as well as serving as a Committee Chairperson for Raincross Quilt Guild. We are excited to have her serve as our President.
Barbara Mathews: First of all, I’d like to say how impressed I am with this Guild and its talented members, its exemplary leadership and organization! I’m honored to be a member and your next president. I hope I can live up to everyone’s expectations as I was not a member for very long before Covid hit and have not had a lot of experience with this Guild. I’m fortunate, though, to have a seasoned and well-versed Board and Committee Chairs to lean on! A little about myself: I have been sewing since I was a young girl, starting with my mother’s scraps and clothes for my dolls. Then on to clothes for myself and later, for my daughters and granddaughters. I’ve been “officially” quilting for about 11 years, but you know, you don’t just wake up one day and decide to make quilts! It’s a process – one which I am still learning. I enjoy a variety of quilt styles – traditional, art, collage, felted wool applique, as well as modern (of which I’m kind of a newbie!) I’ve been a widow for nine years, have two daughters and a step-daughter, five grandchildren (oldest is 30, youngest is 19), live on a mini-ranch/farm, have three cats, one dog, nine chickens and five koi, and live in Lake Mathews (yes, with one “t”). My other hobby is historical reenacting of the Revolutionary War time period. I look forward to this next year as your president and, hopefully, some in-person connection! In the mean time keep sewing, creating and sharing!
Share your favorite recipe, a photo if possible, and the source of your recipe by emailing it to iemodernquiltguild@gmail.com. Send by December 15, 2020, limit one per person. You will get a copy of all the recipes. Please include the source of your recipe, if it did not originate with you.
December 2020 Meeting
Meeting recap: While we didn’t have everyone there at this point, we took a snapshot of our members at our December Zoom Meeting, glad that you joined us for this last meeting of the year. We heard a poem, drew a silly drawing, looked at a great volume of beautiful Show and Share quilts, and more quilts in the slide show that Lynn put together for us. We generally had a good time with each other, fortunate that we have this ability to get together virtually in this time. We — you — are the Guild. Thanks for being a part of this, the Inland Empire Modern Quilt Guild.
Renew Your Membership to be Entered in the Raffle January 2nd
We want to remind you to fill out the form, send in your check or use Paypal, but it’s time now to renew your Membership. It’s all up there on the tab that says “How to Join our Guild.” And now you know our secret: all those who have joined/rejoined by our meeting (plan to get yours in early because of holiday mail days) will have their names entered into a raffle to win a prize, equal to their membership dues. Get yours done now!
Coming up in January: a new year (thank heavens!) and a new year of programs and quilting and getting together. We anticipate for the forseeable future we’ll be Zooming together.
Our first meeting of the year will fall early in the month, on January 2nd, so we wanted to give you a heads up. Laura Greene, our Programs Chair, has arranged for us to watch an episode of Fresh Quilting, where we explore the concept of Alternate Grids for Modern Quilting. Our Secretary, Lynn, has been teaching us about the elements of Modern Quilts, and Alternate Grids is a key component.
We also would like to announce the new Challenge for our Guild, Sounds and Voices. Start any time. The reveal date will be our March 2021 meeting. The only guideline we have is that the longest side should measure no more than 24 inches. Below is a screenshot of our announcement at our meeting, with some idea quilts surrounding the basic theme of Sounds and Voices.
Some More Good-byes
Judy Racine: It’s been a pleasure to be your Membership Chair over the last year. Through these last nine months I’ve missed the personal interaction with you, but membership duties carried on. I hope that each of you who joined in the last year felt welcomed in spite of the circumstances. I’ve created a Membership Duties orientation that I hope will make Kim Wingert’s transition into this role easy. She’s the perfect person for the job! She’ll be sending “Welcome” emails to new members and mailing them an MQG pin, maintaining the IE and national MQG rosters and the email contact list. One Last Reminder: be sure and notify Kim of any address or email changes during the year so you don’t miss out on any of the great programs coming up (use iemodernquiltguild@gmail.com). It’s fresh faces coming into the Board and Chair positions that keep our guild vital and brimming with new ideas. Thank you, everyone!
Elizabeth’s Tannenbaum quilt top (pattern and kit from Laundry Basket Quilts)
Elizabeth Eastmond: As we change over to a new Board, I will also be stepping down as your website mistress, blog editor, and general all-around human. I wore all these hats as VP of Communications, but was capably assisted in Social Media by Kelley Bachli, who knew how to work the magic of Instagram and Facebook. It’s been a challenging but rewarding year. We figured out how to Zoom, with Laura (Program Chair) leading the way. We ported over this website to a new place on the web (hopefully you didn’t notice, as it was supposed to be seamless), and we tried to up our game digitally and virtually, to be of service to you members in order to help you feel connected to the Guild. I am turning all this over to Becky Brekke, an eminently qualified quilter, who will take up the helm. Assisting her as Social Media Chairperson will be Patti Reyes, who makes those beautiful quilts we see behind her on Zoom. Thank you for your good cheer and support.
Your IEMQG Board, with both new and old Board Members Meeting held this past Wednesday, December 2, 2020
The complete listing of our 2021 Guild Board can be found on the tab above, About –> Guild Leadership.
We had a most successful meeting this past Saturday, October 3, 2020, where we were able to see the places where some of our members sew. Hosted by the IEMQG, and conducted by our Co-Program Chair, Laura Greene, under the direction of our President Gayle Bennett, our meeting had a lot of moving parts. For the best overall wrap-up, see the Minutes, posted up there under the tab. Thank you to those who showed off their sewing/quilting spaces: Sarah Sass, Mary Hodge, Kelley Bachli, Shelley Wardrop and Barbara Mathews.
We also heard the first of a beginning series in our meetings, “What is a Modern Quilt?” Lynn Hanna ably tackled this huge subject, showing us examples to go along with the idea of bold colors. Every meeting for the next few meetings, she will show another aspect and quilts that demonstrate this.
We are getting quite familiar with this Zooming, and found that one silver lining is some far-away members can tune in and join in with us. It’s been good to see familiar faces, and we appreciate all those who took time out of their fall weekend and attend the meeting.
Nominating Committee
The Nominating Committee presented the following slate of candidates for the 2021 IEMQG Board: President: Barbara Mathews VP Programs: Laura Greene VP Communications: Becky Brekke Secretary: Lynn Hanna Treasurer: Candy Scott After introducing the candidates, and since there were no opponents, an assenting vote was called. They were all confirmed for the upcoming year. We are grateful to our Nominating Committee for all their hard work: Judy Racine, Jennifer Adams and Elizabeth Eastmond (chair).
We also express gratitude to the outgoing members of our IEMQG Board and Chairpersons: President: Gayle Bennett, who has served for two years VP Communications: Elizabeth Eastmond Social Media: Kelley Bachli Membership: Judy Racine
According to our ByLaws, the new Board will install the all Chairpersons for 2021, but the following have stepped up to volunteer: Social Media: Patti Reyes Membership: Kim Wingert Charity & Opportunity Quilt: Gayle Bennett
We appreciate you all!
Calling all technique junkies! tech·nique/tekˈnēk/nounnoun: technique; plural noun: techniques
a way of carrying out a particular task, especially the execution or performance of an artistic work or a scientific procedure.
skill or ability in a particular field.
a skillful or efficient way of doing or achieving something.
Below is our awesome line-up for Quilter University on November 7, 2020! Do not miss this meeting where our talented members will be demonstrating on trend techniques. You will be sure to pick up a new skill and even learn something new.
Laura Heine Collage Rooster Tutorial with Sarah Sass Have you ever wondered how to make a collage quilt by Laura Heine? Time to dust off those unopened Laura Heine patterns. Sarah will show you how fun and easy it really is.
Quilt Marking for Free Motion Quilting with Kelley Bachli There are a lot of different quilt marking methods and products available for free motion quilting. Discover different techniques to use to get a variety of beautiful quilting motifs.
Rope Bowls with Candy Scott Making rope bowls is my go to when I need a break from other projects, or just to relax. From coasters, to trivets, to rope bowls, etc., it is just fun. The best part, if you don’t like it, you can easily rip it apart and make something else. Just a zig zag stitch, thread, and rope no larger than 5/16” in diameter and you can make something unique. Great ready to have a little fun and create something different.
Curves with Patti Reyes Are you afraid to sew curves? Whether its circles for a drunkards path quilt or curved piecing for an improv quilt. Patti will show you just how easy it is to sew beautiful curves.
So watch your emails for the Zoom Codes for November–you won’t want to miss this one!
Judy Racine, one of our members shared this information with us about other ways to keep up with quilting during this pandemic time:
Though not Zoom-based, per se, the pandemic has opened my eyes to the amazing classes available on-line. My husband bought me a Bluprint subscription for my birthday in March. (It’s now back to being called Craftsy). But, for $49 a year, I have access to all kinds of great on-line quilting and sewing classes to say nothing of the myriad of other subjects offered. I can now say I’ve taken classes from Jacquie Gering and Joe Cunningham – he has been my favorite so far. I love his sense of humor and free-wheeling approach. I’m working on his “Rock The Block – Album Style” and right now it looks like a hot mess but I have ideas for the next one…. there’s always the next one, right?
Show and Share
Quilt Name: Colorado Summer Quilt Maker: Judy Racine Quilter’s Statement: I hadn’t sewn curves before and I think I got the hang of it by the time I was done! I can tell which curves were done earlier rather than later! the other thing I tried on this one was a quilt-as-you go method, then just stitched in the ditch around each square to attach the back. The pattern is Alison Glass’ “Lily”, but I call it “Colorado Summer” as I’m very anxious to spend my summers there, hopefully starting next summer. The back is a 108″ digital print by Hoffman called “Mystic Meadow.” (See below for the back.)
front
Quilt Name: 2016-2020: Fractured Quilt Maker: Judy Racine Dimensions: 63” x 63” Quilter’s Statement: I submitted this quilt for our “Red White and Blue” blog postings. But, there’s more to the story of that quilt. I used wool batting (Mountain Mist) for this first time without reading any on-line reviews. As I was sewing I noticed the quilt was fuzzy but thought it was just external fibers. The quilt was bearding horribly, most noticeable on that black backing. I tried washing and drying it and it went from fuzzy to matted fur. I took it all apart, used my cheap 80/20 batting that I had extra of and just got it put all back together. The upside: I learned to check reviews for batting or take personal recommendations, and – I didn’t have to mark the quilt the second time around! I continue to say that I learn something new with every quilt.
(We apologize to Judy for inadvertently leaving her off Show and Share on Saturday.)
Quilt Name: Bug Jars Quilt Maker: Lynn Hanna Quilter’s Statement: I started this quilt about 15 years ago. As a beginning quilter, I didn’t know how to “snowball” the corners of the jars. So, I did numerous mathematical calculations to figure out the correct size for each jar’s triangle to complete the corners. No two jars are the same size, and each jar had a slightly different angle to the triangle, although it’s not really noticeable with the finished quilt. I definitely know a better, easier way now! This had been in the closet to finish someday. COVID 19 is that day, so although my boys are long moved out of the house, it’s now ready for their bed!
Quilter: Laura Greene Quilter’s Statement: This is in process. I took an online class, stitching and cutting and sewing those wedges onto background fabric. It’s intended for a wedding gift so I can’t reveal too much more at this point.
Quilt Maker: Patti Reyes Quilter’s Statement: When firemen go to fight a fire, they pick up T-shirts for the fires or for the area where they were assigned. I volunteered to make a T-shirt quilt for a friend of mine, a firefighter. Some of those T-shirts are from fires local to our area. We really appreciate our firefighters–if you know one of them, offer to make them a quilt!
We’d love to see your projects and your completed quilts. Please send an email to the Guild address (iemodernquiltguild@gmail.com) and put SHOW AND SHARE in the subject line. Send us high quality photographs, with a straight-on-shot of the quilt. Laying them on the floor or a bed isn’t the best; please tape them to the wall, or clip/pin them to a fence, or grab someone in your neighborhood to hold the quilt for you, and make sure the quilt is in good lighting. Please also include:
Deadline for showing at our Guild meetings is the Wednesday before the meeting, so for November, please send your quilts (with SHOW AND SHARE in the subject line) by November 4th.
Social Time
Nov 7, 2020 01:30 PM Dec 5, 2020 01:30 PM Jan 2, 2021 01:30 PM Feb 6, 2021 01:30 PM Mar 6, 2021 01:30 PM Apr 3, 2021 01:30 PM May 1, 2021 01:30 PM Jun 5, 2021 01:30 PM Jul 3, 2021 01:30 PM
Have you noticed the new times on our Zoom Code invitations? We are now starting our Zoom Meetings at 1:30 p.m. — thirty minutes before the official start time of our IEMQG Guild. That’s a time for you to show up, show off the quilt hanging behind your head, catch up on the news and see your friends, all before we begin our meetings at 2:00 p.m. And if you haven’t put our meetings on your schedule, here’s a listing for you!
Last Announcements
We’re working to get the Member Roster online, behind a password, as well as to get a PayPal button for Membership Renewal. Watch for this, coming soon!
If you do not receive this newletter/blog post in your email, please head to the top of this blog, and on the right, enter your email in the box (illustration shown above). It will then come to you automatically. Save the auto-generated email you’ll receive, as if you move away, you’ll can un-enroll the same way.
We had another Zoom Guild Meeting this past weekend and had a great discussion about our favorite quilting tools, from scissors to machines to types of thread. Thank you to all who attended and we look forward to seeing you again in October.
• A N N O U N C E M E N T S •
• Next month’s meeting, on October 3, 2020 will show some sewing rooms, sewing studios, hallways, dining room tables, or other spaces dedicated to where you sew. We’ve seen some of your rooms when you’ve Zoomed with us, and we’d like you to give us a tour of where you store stuff, and your favorite spot in your sewing space. Please send us an email at iemodernquiltguild@gmail.com if you’d like to share. Deadline for letting Laura and Becky, our Program Chairs, know is Monday, September 28, 2020. Thank you!
• We are in the process of gathering together new officers for our Guild. If you think you could step in and help us (terms are one year), then please email the chair of the Nominating Committee, Elizabeth Eastmond, at opquilt@gmail.com. More information can be found on a previous post on this website.
• Many pieces of business are conducted at our Zoom Board Meetings (minutes are in the tab up above). The most recent significant news is that our Retreat this November has been postponed until next November. All those who had paid — either a deposit or full payment — have been contacted.
• Our Opportunity Quilt is finished! Gayle has been dutifully sewing down the faced binding, putting the finishing touches on a quilt that began with Cat’s ideas. Some helped here and there in piecing, but Cat finished it up for us and quilted it. It’s stunning! Soon it will have its own tab, and its own schedule, but thought you’d like to see this sneak peak of the quilt. Thank you, everyone!
• We have a segment of our Zoom Meeting where we show slides of your quilts, and you narrate for us. It’s really wonderful to see what you’ve been working on. Please also send high-quality pictures of your quilts to our email address (above) and we’ll be able to share them with everyone. Please include the following info:
SHOW AND SHARE • SEPTEMBER 2020
Quilter: Gayle Bennett Quilter’s Statement: This is a jean quilt for my daughter and family to take in their travel trailer. I think this will be a one time experience in quilting. Whew, this was a heavy one. I used a layer of thoroughly preshrunk flannel instead of batting because this quilt does not need any additional weight! Backing and binding is a lightweight denim from Joann’s.
Quilter: Ginger Gabriel Quilt Name: Honor Quilt size: 60” x 77” Maker’s Statement: We will be presenting to to a local veteran for Quilts of Valor.
Quilter: Ginger Gabriel Quilt size: 30”x 40” Maker’s Statement: For niece, Ericka, graduating from college with double major in Creative Design and Economics From an Institute in Paris. She described her style as Modern Minimalist, preceding black, grey and blue. I used linen I had purchased at quilt show in France.
Quilter: Debi Gardner Quilt Name: Pick-up Sticks Pop of Color Quilt Size: Large lap size. This was a swap a block shared with a group of us who belong to Pass Patchers. The requirement was black and white only. We could make any block 12 1/2″ square. I added the pick-up stick blocks for some color and used shattered quilting with black, red, and teal thread.
Quilter: Pat Klassen Quilt size: lap quilts Maker’s Statement: None.
Quilter: Candy Scott Quilt size: varied Maker’s Statement: The quilt on the left is for a baby boy . The parents are both scientists, (Dad is doing research on Covid-19), so I used Dr Seuss Periodic Table fabric on the back. The quilt on the right is a charity quilt. I used the pattern for three 1 yard fabrics, but I did not want to do borders, so I used an extra 1/4 yard of the focus fabric and stripe binding. It finished at 48″ x57.”
Quilter: Candy Scott Maker’s Statement: This quilt was a mystery quilt for our community Quilt Club. We started in Mid-January. We were given a step to complete each week. The final step to assemble was given just as we were shutting down. Mine is made with a Grunge Dot Jelly Roll and the yardage is Grunge.
Maker: Lynn Hanna Name: Sew Powerful Purses I picked up this flier at QuiltCon in February. I just sent them off, on their way to Zambia, to help girls stay in school while on their period. They fill them with supplies for the young women.
Quilter: Lynn Hanna Quilt Name: Global Warming Mandala Statement: I watched Mel Beach stitch mandalas on a Quilting Arts TV show. I made some wedges, then stitched in each web, free hand, no marking, as she suggested. This is the result. Look closely to see increased fires, severe tornadoes, lightening, ocean waves from sea level rising, living things in turmoil, and parched land.
Thank you to those who made charity quilts this month. Some lucky person will have these great quilts to enjoy.
Please send photos to iemodernquiltguild@gmail.com for inclusion in our next meeting. Please send by October 1, 2020. Choose Large or Actual Size if sending them from your phone.
SCCQG 2021 Road to California Special Exhibit The time is NOW to enter a quilt into this exhibit. The deadline to receive your entry is now October 1, 2020. During this stay-at -home time are you busy quilting? Are you working on a quilt that has been begging to be completed? Have you finished a quilt for an now postponed future guild quilt show? Or a new fresh quilt has emerged that you would like to share with fellow quilters? Solution = Enter these quilts in our 2021 SCCQG Road to California special exhibit!!! The “Sharing Our Quilts” exhibit is designed to be a showcase for recent (2019-2020) quilts that you have, or you are producing. There is no specific theme or topic, or size limitation. The plan is to share treasured styles of quilting or patterns you relish. This is exhibit is all about Southern California quilts created by members of SCCQG Member guilds. Numerous quilts are needed. There is still time to enter as the deadline is October 1, 2020. The Call for Quilts and Entry Form are posted on the SCCQG website. NOTE: Our Guild belongs to this larger, regional organization. If you have a quilt you’d like to enter, choose one of your smaller quilts, as they’d like to hang more of them at the show.
We want to hear from you!! Please send your thoughts to iemodernquiltguild@gmail.com There are two for each month throughout the rest of this year, so if you can’t write about one, maybe you can write about the other. They will publish mid-month, and we have some great submissions from our guild. Please join us, by giving us your thoughts.
[OCTOBER] What Zoom classes have you taken? How did the Zoom class work for you? What were some of the advantages? Disadvantages?
[OCTOBER] What Zoom Guild Meetings have you attended? What were the highlights? What were the things that were tiresome?
[NOVEMBER] What do you miss most about your “other, normal” life? Travel? Idle browsing in Target? Going out in the car to see whoever you wanted, whenever you wanted?
[DECEMBER] What has been the best part of this quarantine? What life lessons have you learned? What surprising gifts have come your way, due to the shut-down? What will you NOT pick up again when this is all over?
[JANUARY] Have you made a Covid-19 quilt? If so, send photos? Have you seen an interesting Covid-19 quilt? Again, send photos, and the source. Since this one is in January, maybe you want to start a quilt that depicts this time in our lives? Some ideas are to make a quilt with words (social distancing, flatten the curve, etc.), or one that has elements of the virus’ shape (see below). Maybe you have your own feeling about this time, and want to express in a non-traditional quilt. Look forward to January, when we talk about, and maybe see, quilts from the covid-era.
Block of the Month for us: Lightning Block, from the MQG website
We have many resources on the national Modern Quilt Guild site, including a monthly block. This block can be used to make the quilts below. Head over to the site to download your instructions (look for the newsletter in your email for the link).
We appreciate all those who gave service to our Guild this past month, from charity quilts to organizing the programs, and those who keeping the Guild running, serving on the Board and Committees. Many of these Guild members do their service behind the scenes so that we members can enjoy sharing our quilts and have a Modern Quilt Guild in the Inland Empire. We thank you!
In 1911, fans and ice were luxuries, air conditioning unknown. “On July 4, temperatures hit 103 in Portland, 104 in Boston (a record that still stands), 105 in Vernon, Vt., and 106 in Nashua, N.H., and Bangor, Maine. At least 200 died from drowning, trying to cool off in rivers, lakes, ponds and the ocean – anything wet. Still more died from heat stroke. The 1911 heat wave was possibly the worst weather disaster in New England’s history, with estimates of the death toll as high as 2,000” (from here).
But we’ve got them all beat, with this weather broadcaster letting us know it was 162 degrees in Los Angeles last week. So let’s think about something fun that’s coming up, and maybe by then, our heat wave will have broken.
We’re looking forward to our discussion of your favorite sewing and quilting tools at our IEMQG Zoom Meeting on September 5th. We all have favorite devices for sewing. Is yours a common one, or a specific one, or an unusual one? Our program will consist of sharing our favorite and important tools that we use while creating our quilts. Please send in a picture and include your name, the tool’s name (if it is a weird or unusual one) and how it is used, why it is so important, and any variations that may make it versatile. Then post it on an email to iemodernquiltguild@gmail.com with the subject line, “Tool Time.” Please send images by September 3, 2020, and watch your emails for your Zoom links to the meeting.
At our Guild Meetings in the past, we’d chat about our lives, share the treats at the back of the room while catching up with each other. We didn’t have many responses this month, but we appreciated Lynn Hanna’s thoughtful email, talking about registering for QuiltCon and thinking about Road. Some excerpts are below:
For QuiltCon, I spent a long time searching teacher’s websites, looking at their work, and thinking about the class they would be teaching. I didn’t find any classes that struck my fancy or that seemed worth the investment of time, energy, and money.
“I did however sign up for four lectures. I don’t recall the actual titles, but they are about photographing quilts (something I know nothing about), and interviews with judges and winners. I want to have a quilt in a major show someday, something that has eluded me so far. As far as concerns for the show, I learned from a virtual quilt show I attended in April this year. I usually spend all day enjoying the quilts and vendors, often several days. I found the virtual event well done for the short planning time they had to put it together, but I also only spent a couple hours instead of days.
“I loved having the quilt labels on my computer because I could read them without bending over the plastic tape line and having my glasses fall off as I try to get close enough to read them. I also liked that they posted the back sides. I did miss the “in person” look though. A photo is good, but a real quilt is so much better. I will miss the energy, eavesdropping on what others have purchased or enjoyed, running into a friend, or having lunch with someone from another part of the world and hearing a bit of their story.
“I did not register for Road to CA. I think it will be cancelled, and I didn’t want to get in the mess of refunds or rescheduling. I had several trips planned and lots of theater events scheduled this spring. All were cancelled eventually, but each one had a different procedure to resolve payments. I spent several days calling to cancel, then tracking that the refunds actually came through. Sign up for Road came in the middle of that and I just decided not to bother.
“If Road still happens, I will struggle to decide if I go or not. I have remained isolated. I can’t imagine expanding my bubble to attend the show, inside, with thousands of others, no matter how many masks and hand washing stations are available. I will be disappointed to miss the excitement, and will be envious of others willing to take the risk to enjoy the show.”
Elizabeth Eastmond writes: “I appreciated the fact that QuiltCon was sensitive to the realities of our COVID-19 pandemic and thought the idea of a “virtual” meeting made a lot of sense. I signed up for Daisy Auschehoug’s Illustrator 2 class, as I took her Illustrator 1 class in February and really learned a lot. I don’t have Illustrator, as I don’t want to pay the monthly fee. Instead I use Affinity Designer (actually the whole Affinity Suite) and it worked just fine in that class. I signed up for QuiltCon’s extra bit, and my schedule informed me after the fact that I’ll be getting up in the very early hours of the morning to participate!
“By the time I totaled up all the lectures I wanted to see, it was the price of the all-lecture pass, so I went that direction. Now I can see whatever lecture I want. I am a little bummed that all the recordings go away at the end of the meeting. It would have been nice to draw upon that for several weeks, but I’m just going to block out those days and make my own QuiltCon buzz!
“I did not sign up for any classes at Road to California, both for the reasons that Lynn states, but also because I had taken way too many classes this year and wanted a break. Given that our state still hasn’t opened up attendance at large-scale events at this point, I rather doubt I’ll be attending in person. I had been going around teaching at Guilds and giving lectures, and was stunned when this part of our world sort of stopped. But I’ve converted my workshops and lectures to a Live-Online presentation, and am pretty comfortable with this format. I wish that Road would follow QuiltCon’s lead and figure out how to do the same.”
Write us an email with some of your thoughts about September’s monthly topics (we have two for each month):
• How has your fabric shopping changed since Covid-19 hit? Do you do more online shopping? • Has it been harder or easier to sew since the quarantine? Both? Neither? In what way?
The full list of monthly topics are found at the end of this post. We post your responses mid-month, so open up your email and shoot us a few lines, as we’d like to hear what you think, our friends and fellow quilters. You can write a little or you can write a lot; they will be edited for clarity and flow. Send to iemodernquiltguild@gmail.com
Send in your pictures and descriptions for Tool Time. Deadline is September 3rd. Please write “Tool” in the subject line.
Send in your pictures for Show and Share for our September General Zoom Meeting. Deadline is September 3rd. Please write “Show and Share” in the subject line.
Send in your ideas, thoughts and comments about either/both of our topics. We’ll publish them mid-September, but don’t procrastinate. We want to hear about your experiences.
Thanks to everyone who entered our 2020 Inland Empire Modern Quilt Guild Challenge. We had the theme of Urban, the requirement to use a minimum of 4″ of blue fabric (we handed out the swatch), and the size restriction of the longest side measuring 24 inches. We’ve gathered them all together; they are presented in alphabetical order. All dimensions are listed width by heighth. The winners of the Participation Prize (random drawing) and the Board Choice Prize are listed at the end, as we wanted you to enjoy the show first.
Quilt Title: Sidewalk. With Gum. Quilter: Gayle Bennett Dimensions: 23 1/2″ x 23 1/2″ Origin: Inspiration from the book Quilting Modern Inspired by the Jacquie Gering/Katie Pederson pattern for the Fiesta wall quilt in Quilting Modern as well as my view of sidewalks. From the green strip walkways of my neighborhood, to the miles of San Francisco pavement, and the cobblestones of my one (so far) European adventure the presence of gum blobs — apparently just spit out by a person onto the very path they are walking — has always puzzled me. Facing binding with my first attempt at mitered corners for that type of binding.
Quilt Name/Title: MetaStructure/Metaesquema Quilter’s full name: Elizabeth Eastmond Dimensions 11″ wide by 16″ high
The Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica, created a series of over 200 paintings from 1957-1958, titled Metaesquema, which roughly translates to Metastructure. He was affiliated with the Concrete Movement, which stripped art from any lyrical or symbolic connotations, believing that art should have no meaning other than color, line, and plane. When I think of urban spaces I think always of the grid, a favorite of mine, and for my challenge I wanted to emulate one of Oticica’s Metaesquemas in fabric.
Title: Urban Emissions Quilter: Cassandra Gray Dimensions: 23 1/2” x 22 3/4” Origin: inspired by slide 12 from the original challenge post slideshow
I traced a copy of the slide showing the elevated train tracks shadow on the city street in Adobe Illustrator, generalizing it a bit and blowing up the vector artwork to 24” x 24”, which I had printed at Office Depot (tip: select blueprint printing for the cheapest option, especially if you don’t need color). I bought the closet color match to the Classic Blue from Pineapple Fabrics, along with a good medium gray and a dark navy blue. I cut out the pattern, used Steam-a-Seam and cut out the bridge and sandwiched and ironed the quilt top layers. I really wanted it to be stylized and dark, with the blue being a beacon – of hope, of escape, of whatever you need a beacon of. To me, it could be a bridge or a building – I honestly don’t think it matters. All quilting is with a walking foot – the gray is quilted with King Tut variegated ‘Obsidian’, which I think gives it a rusty, urban feel, and the blue swirls are a 12wt Wonderfil using Catherine Redford’s spiral walking foot technique. I realized that the instructions were to include the entire 4” square of Classic Blue, which really didn’t work with my design, but I think the as-close-as-I-could-get blue works great as the binding!
Quilt Title: Nashville Quilters’ Name: Ruthann Elder Dimension: 15 1/2″ by 18 1/2″ Origin of Quilt Design: Original design
It was inspired by a building I saw in downtown Nashville while attending Quiltcon. The way the lights in the building worked with the architecture, I found it inspiring and took a few photos. This design was my second attempt to design a foundation paper piece pattern on my own.
Quilt Title: Urbanosity Quilters’ Name: Debi Gardner Dimension: 15 1/2″ x 19″ Origin of Quilt Design: Original design
This quilt was inspired by some apartments in Mountain Grove shopping center in Redlands. They look like stacked boxes in gray, brown, red, and yellow. I put a Mondrian spin on them and added a graffiti wall in place of chain link.The matchstick quilting around the appliqued windows was kind of tedious, but I got the effect I wanted.
Quilt Name/Title: Suzhou Skyline Dimensions: 24″ x 16″ Quilter’s full name: Laura Greene Origin of Quilt Design: inspiration from Google Images
I have taught summer school at Suzhou International Language School in China for three summers. I love touring Tiger Hill Temple, Pingjiang Street, Humble Administrators Garden, Pants Building, West Lake, Grand Buddah, and Shanshan Temple.
Quilt Name: Haves and Have Nots Quilter’s Name: Lynn Hann Dimensions: 18″ x 23 1/2″ Origin of Quilt Design: Original design
I started planning this quilt by asking several people what images come to mind with the word, “urban.” People answered, busy buildings, noisy transportation, lights, and commotion. When I asked my son, he told me that since Roman times, urban places are where wealthy people in power live in luxury while hoards of poor peasants crowd the small left over spaces to eke out a living. On a recent jaunt to Los Angeles I observed just that: whole streets, smelling of musty urine, crowded with tents, blankets, and bags of belongings, people huddled with empty bottles, trash, and their faces showing lines of stress and a sense of resignation to their plight.
The narrow striped fabric in greys reminded me of tall modern buildings. I used raw edged applique to show the tents and clutter jammed below the modern looking skyline. The required blue challenge fabric is part of the homeless encampment. I took liberties to include politically incorrect stereotypes of white people walking below the tall buildings reaching to the daylight, and people of color huddled below the dark sky, living in makeshift spaces on the sidewalks, in order to emphasize the “Haves and Have Nots” theme.
Quilt Title: Once Upon A Time In East LA Quilters’ Name: Pat Klassen Dimension: 24″ x 16″ Origin of Quilt Design: Original design
It’s an original design that was inspired by the graffiti on a passing freight train and walls in East L.A. All the materials were from my stash except the brick fabric. The technique I used is collage without fusing that I learned many years ago. I love to tell stories using fabric motifs and adding small details like the lost cat poster and old tires. Thank you for this challenge as I was in a “slump” and needed something to get me going again.
Quilt Title: LA Twilight Quilter: Helen Matter Quilt Dimension: 7 1/4” x 10 1/4” Original Design
Royal blue is my all-time favorite color, and when I saw the swatch, it reminded me of my favorite sky—just after sunset when you can still see some colors and they blend into those beautiful blues before dark. I struggled with putting together the small pieces, particularly LA City Hall. (I would appreciate some instruction about techniques!) But it was fun to try to achieve the look that was in my imagination.
The LA City Hall building has fascinated me since Marsha first called it the pointy building, which she just told me was from the Lohman and Barkley show on KFI radio! Because of the city’s height restrictions, it was the tallest building in Los Angeles in 1928 when it was completed and remained so until 1964. The building looks dwarfed in the LA skyline today (454 ft.). The other buildings represented are the Wilshire Grand Center (1,100 ft.), the Aon Center (858 ft.), and the Bank of America Center (735 ft.).
Title: City Geese In the Clouds Quilter: Jan Mills Dimensions: 24 x 24 inches
The pieced buildings are from a very old magazine describing a different waty to make tumbling blocks. I added lace to indicate fancy moldings on old buildings. The clouds are trapunto and edged in white piping. I used Gail Garber’s technique from her book, Flying Colors, to create freezer paper patterns to paper piece the flying geese. I used my color wheel from our last class as a sun.
I am pleased to submit my original improvisation of Guanajuato, the most colorful city in Mexico. I have always loved photos of that city showing the unregulated application of color to the neighborhoods trailing up the hillsides. All of my fabrics came from stash except for the lapis colored house in front and the sky fabric, a metallic grunge that looks way better in person. I placed purposely wonky steps at the base to ground the neighborhood. I gave a little perspective to the windows to add interest. I added some gray linen and speckled green for textured landscaping. I have not mastered free motion quilting so I used a walking foot. I decided on a faced binding to make it more modern. This was so very challenging for me but fun as well!
Quilt Title: Modern Manhole Cover Quilters’ Name: Melody Savoian Dimension: 24 inches square Origin of Quilt Design: Original design
After researching manhole covers and discovering a variety of different styles, I chose to create my own unique design using EQ8.
Quilt Name: Paved Paradise, Put up a Parking Lot Quilter: Marsha Schuh Dimensions: 21 1/2″ x L 22” Quilter’s Design: Original design When I heard about the challenge, my first instinct was what Lohman and Barlkley always called “the pointy building.” They were the comedy team who entertained me and countless others on KFI during the morning drive to work. When my sister chose to feature City Hall in her quilt, I began searching for another possibility. I went through myriad other possibilities, fabrics, and swatches, many of which were probably better than my final choice. But, I found a small piece of fabric (the center of the quilt) I’ve wanted to use for a long time. My family first came to California when I was 4 ½ and stayed in Monterey Park for about 6 months. I thought it was paradise—orange trees, lupins and poppies on the surrounding hills, and the smell of fresh ocean breeze ever and always in the air. We went back to Chicago for another seven years, but returned to my still beautiful, fragrant California on Route 66. I loved Southern California back then, the place where I could wear shorts in winter and pick oranges and kumquats from the trees in our backyard. As the years progressed, my beautiful paradise gradually disappeared. That was the inspiration for my quilt—the disappearance of “all things bright and beautiful” (a phenomenon that continues today). The title of my piece expresses my pain. The parking lot, the city, the freeways, the concrete jungle have all but obliterated the glorious land of my youth. The middle piece depicts what has replaced my dreams, as viewed from a window that seems like a prison; the cars show the immensity of overwhelming traffic. The lines on right and left depict the freeways that have overtaken country roads. The blue moon with striations of fog illustrates the once–in-a-blue-moon glimpses of the way it was.
Unfortunately, Janet Tranbarger’s quilt went sailing out over the internet and didn’t make it into our contest, but we thought it important to include it here.
Quilt Name: Urban Graffiti 4 Quilter: Janet Tranbarger Dimensions: 24″ square Origin of Quilt Design: Original, drafted using Electric Quilt software , then altered using a technique developed by Lorraine Torrence in her book Shifting Perspectives. Cotton fabrics, machine pieced and quilted.
There are two prizes being awarded: Participation, and Guild Board Choice. The winners were announced at our Zoom Meeting, today at 2 p.m.
Here’s a fun screenshot of Patti telling us about her quilt at our June 13th Zoom Meeting.
Congratulations to Laura Greene for Participation (a random drawing)
Congratulations to Pat Klassen for Guild Board Choice
And thank you again to all who entered!
Cat standing in front of the Opportunity Quilt, designed by her, and made with help from Guild members. From our Zoom Meeting June 13th, 2020.
We’re in process of getting the binding on the opportunity quilt and we’ll get a better picture of it, and present it to you soon! Cat did a fabulous job!
Don’t forget to send in photos of your red, white, blue, redwhiteblue, patriotic, or any combination of those colors. We’ll post them as we receive them…if you don’t see a post from Inland Empire Modern Quilt Guild that week your email box, it’s because we didn’t have any quilts to share. So, don’t be shy, send them in! And if you don’t have one, see the first post this coming Monday (the day after Flag Day) for a free patriotic quilt to make–it’s quick and easy and comes in two sizes. See you then!
If you would, please include the usual information:
Our first ever Zoom meeting will begin at 2 p.m. By now you all should have received your Zoom Link in your emailbox. If you have not, please contact us via email: iemodernquiltguild@gmail.com and we’ll get that right out to you.
Two exciting things will be happening: 1. Reveal of our Guild’s Opportunity Quilt. Cat has been working long and hard on this quilt (assisted by some members of the guild), and we’ll get to see it for the first time at our meeting.
2.Reveal of our Guild’s Urban Challenge. We are so excited about this as we had so many fabulous entries. Prizes will be awarded: a random drawing to determine one for Participation, and one will be awarded for Board’s Choice. We’ll also have all all the quilts, and their makers, and artist statements posting up to our blog that day, too.
One of our VPs of Programs, Laura, has asked if you want to do a Show and Share, please have your quilts ready to show. If they are small, practice holding them up so you aren’t fumbling around. If they are large, consider putting them up on your design wall, or recruit someone at your house to hold them, or even take a picture ahead of time and show it up on your screen, while you tell us about them. Whatever you are comfortable with!
Not my quilt, but don’t I wish!
To keep the fun of Show and Share going, starting Sunday, June 14th (Flag Day!!) we will have a few weeks of sharing patriotic quilts, or red+white+blue, or red quilts or blue quilts or white quilts, or any combination of the above colors. We’ll be showing your quilts throughough the rest of June, and into July.
Beginning today, send us a good photo of your quilts to our email (listed above) along with the usual:
Please put “patriotic” or “redwhiteblue” in the subject line or some version of that, if you wouldn’t mind.
See you (and hear you!) on your computer screen this Saturday!
Quilt Festival • Long Beach has been cancelled, but Quilts, Inc. is still planning on holding their fall Quilt Festival in Houston, October 29-November 1, 2020. In their announcement letter, Quilts, Inc. is planning on holding the Long Beach gathering at a later time but at the same place, and are still working on dates. More info can be found on their website.
Our June Meeting, usually scheduled for the first week of June has been morphed into a Zoom Meeting for the following week. The Modern Quilt Guild (national) has made Zoom Meeting capabilities available to all their guilds, and we’ve scheduled one for June 13th and August 1st (our regular time). The link will be sent out a few days before the meeting.
Until we can meet in person, we look forward to seeing you on Zoom next Saturday, and to the reveal of all our Urban Challenge Quilts. We received thirteen entries, and they are all top-notch–we can hardly wait to show you! Winners of the prizes will be announced then, as well, for Participation and Guild Board Choice.
One silver lining to the cancellations we are experiencing is the transformation of our national quilt show, QuiltCon, into a virtual quilt show. Those of us who wouldn’t have been able to travel to Atlanta can now participate in QuiltCon. Emails will come to you directly from MQG, so watch for announcements!
We’ve been watching with interest as all the Urban Challenge quilts have been coming in to our emailbox–you are really creating some interesting little quilts.
We’ll be presenting them at our first ever Zoom Meeting on Saturday, June 13, 2020. We’ve been trying to figure out a way to meet with you all, and hope you can join us at 2 p.m. on that day. Our Program Chairs will send out a link to your email; just click to join using Zoom.
Tomorrow, May 26th, is our deadline for the quilt to be submitted. We can’t wait to see what you’ve been working on!
Flags!
Then, beginning June 14th, Flag Day, we hope you will send us photos of your patriotic quilts, which is — loosely defined — any quilt with red or white or blue or redwhiteblue. We’ll have an ongoing show of them through June and into July, when we don’t meet. Maybe you’ve always been wanting to make a little one, to stand on your desk, or a bigger one for a (socially distanced) picnic. We want to see them!!
Use these guidelines of things to tell us about your quilt:
We recently had a Board Meeting via Zoom. Click to read the minutes:
